I Built Something

     If you follow my Instagram, then there is a good chance you saw that picture above. In that box, is the surprise I've been talking about. It came all the way from Great Britain, and I have to say, I love everything about it. Some assembly was required, but I was up for the challenge. I had to deal with some PR stuff first, and it took much longer than I had anticipated, but everything is lined up for the next couple of weeks. We also moved up the next location to this Tuesday, so I will have more time to edit the video and write the blog entry. It will go up on time on Friday. With that being said, let's get to the surprise.

     Those are most of the pieces laid out. You can see that this was going to take some time, and I didn't get home until around 7-8 at night from the little PR meeting. In the background you can see the disaster area that became of all the packing. I wasn't worried too much about being neat and tidy, I just wanted to get everything out. I did make sure that I had everything I needed in one place, and the trash confined to that area near the garage door. Have you guessed what it is yet?

     There it is all assembled and ready to do it's job. Any guesses yet? If you said an Abba Skylift, then you are correct. This is that lift I talked about a few weeks ago. I checked my finances and found that I had plenty of room to buy it now, rather than wait. The only problems were; how big was it when it was assembled and could I find a place to store it that was out of the way. As you can see, it takes up quite a bit of floor space, but it is still much less room than a standard motorcycle lift would have taken up. I'm just approximating here, but I'd say that it covers 7 square feet of floor space, where I standard lift would take up a whopping 21 square feet. The good news is, that I found the room to store it, so that it is out of the way and looks like it was always meant to be there. That will change as I open the garage/lounge further. That only means there will be more room for it. That red arm that goes out the back side of it, actually comes off, to make it store even easier. I didn't get a picture of it where I have it, but trust me, it is out of the way, I did have to throw a few things out, but there were going to be tossed anyway.

     I'm guessing your next question is, what does it do, and does it work. Well, it lifts Saki up, so that I can do maintenance on it. I will be able to do pretty much everything with that lift now. I can remove the wheels to replace the tires, I can take the exhaust system off if needed. Oil changes can be done on it (although not necessary), or I can just clean it in those hard to reach areas. The added benefit of not having to lie on the floor is a definite plus. Now to that, does it work question. The next few pictures should answer that question. A little behind the scenes info for ya. I actually put the adaptors on wrong, and by all rights, it should have come crashing to the ground, because it was properly secured. I saw the error of my ways, and corrected the problem and refitted Saki the right way. The last two pictures will be the correction.

     There isn't any visible difference of my mistake, but trust me, it could have been ver problematic. The final two pictures are at full height, where the first two are at the lowest set height. There are four set heights that you can put it at. It comes with a locking pin that you slide in to a any of four sets of holes. It has a hydraulic ram arm that lifts the whole thing. It is strong enough to lift 3 tons, so Saki was no problem. With the roller wheels on it, I can spin it any direction that I want. I can work on it from a single location, by just spinning the lift and Saki around on it. Right now, other than Saki, this is the single best purchase I have made for Saki's Lounge. I'm looking forward to all the work I can do on Saki now with the Abba Skylift. If you want more information on Abba, just follow this link ABBA SKYLIFT 

     Since the name of the company is Abba, I decided on Friday I was going to listen to ABBA. That is something I hadn't done in some time, despite the fact that I consider ABBA, some of the masters of the disco era, and you now how I love disco. While I was listening to them during the day at work, knowing that the lift would arrive at my house, I got an interesting notification on my phone. For the first time in 35 years, ABBA is coming out with new music, and I couldn't be more excited about it. I think it is needless to say, but I did listen to ABBA the entire time I was putting the Skylift together. It was a rather enjoyable evening. I love working with my hands, in any way, whether it be putting something like that Skylift together, or some kind of art, playing an instrument, or what I'm doing right now, writing. Its the concept of creating something from a pile of things. Why the Skylift, it's a pile of metal parts, with art, it's pencils, or paint, or colorful material, with an instrument it's that pile of unused notes, with writing, it's words and phrases. What I'm getting at, is go out and do something constructive, it will make you happy.

     I also got another package in the mail on Friday, and I liked this one far better than I thought I would. I mean, I knew I was going to like it, I ordered it, but I didn't expect what I got out of it. I ordered a couple of pair of sunglasses from a company called RainbowOPTX. Let's get down to it, I ordered them because they had a purple and red pair, I didn't put any research into it other than that. They were cheap for sunglasses, so let's go crazy and get both the purple and red pair. There was a bonus though, the company gives a way a pair for free with every order. The color is random while they are in stock. They pick a certain color and that is the color until the run out, and then they post the new color. The ones I got for free, were called aqua. Here is what I didn't know about these sunglasses, they are made on the principle of color therapy. It's the idea that looking at your surrounds through different tints of color, can affect different parts of your body, and aspects of your feelings. I can't confirm if they really work, but before I read that information on the small card that they provided with my sunglasses, I wore the aqua ones, and I had this sense of calming relaxation. The next day after reading the small card, I wore the purple ones, and my spirits which were already pretty hi, were lifted even higher. I haven't worn the red ones yet, but I'm expecting a whole sense of feelings.

     There they are. Great looking sunglasses and they offer UV protection. I can't recommend them enough. Just in case you were wondering, yes, they do have rose colored glasses. According to the card, the part of the body that they affect is the center of the chest, the focus is love, and it helps you to purify, open, uplift, and awaken. I have the strange feeling that I'm going to order all off them, over time of course. 

     They do over different styles so you don't have to go for that old school Wayfairer style. I just pulled up the site to get the link for you, and they are giving away translucent blue sunglasses right now. The give aways seem to always be the style that I got, so you don't have a choice there, but hey, they are free, and look great. Here is the link if you want to check them out yourself Rainbow OPTX 

     On the off chance that anyone from Rainbow OPTX is reading this, I'm open to a sponsorship. I'll promote your glasses like this for free sunglasses. I'm still waiting to hear from Tommy John as well. Ok, I'm done with the shameless promotion.

     Since I spent Friday night building that Skylift, I wasn't able to wake up early enough to get that video made. Ok, I could have woke up early enough, but when it came down to it, I just wanted to sleep in until 8. Just because I didn't do that video that I can't tell you about, that doesn't mean I didn't go out and do a video. I did have an idea that I told you about before this new idea popped into my head, and I can do that one in any light, so do it I did. Here is my video that is a question to you, and I would like your answer on this. What would you have done?

     I'm keeping them short, this one is exactly 5 minutes, and it's that long because I wanted to put some bit of editing fanciness into it. Either let me know your answer to that question in the comments below, or even better, go to the YouTube page, and post your comment there.

     I did take some nice pictures of Saki while I was out, but I posted those on Instagram and since I'm already picture heavy tonight, you can go there and see them if you want. No pressure, but give them a like if you do check them out.

     I guess I should mention that we will not have a guest reviewer for the next PR. It turns out that they had a surprise change of plans at work and they do have to work that day. If I was off and we could do it earlier in the day, it could have worked, but since I do have to work, I won't be able to get it started until 4 and they have to be at work at 6:30. I just don't think we could get them to their job in time, so the first guest reviewer won't be on the next PR post. The opening is available for other ones though, so if you want to be a guest reviewer on a future The Pepperoni Report, get in touch with us either on our Instagram or Facebook page. One of us will get back to you with a list of places that we have already been and need a guest reviewer to get that fresh take on things.

     I wanted to talk about James Shaw Jr. tonight but I want to give him proper time on the blog. If you don't know who he is, he is the man who stopped the shooter at The Waffle House in Tennessee. I will talk about him on Tuesday, because he is a rather remarkable man, and deserves to be known. Until then peace in and goodnight.

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 25)

     The Raiders had destroyed the village. I spent the next few days after the attack burying everyone. I salvaged what food and material for building a shelter I could. It wasn't much. The Raiders had taken all the livestock and most of the stores of food. 12 goats had been left on the mountain to graze the night before the attack, so I was able to get fresh milk. I didn't slaughter them for food. I wanted to save my blade for every Raider I came across.

     I used the material to build a small shelter for the goats near the forge. I used the railing from the old pen to keep them gathered together so that they wouldn't wander off and become food for a wolf any anything else. I would go into the forest each morning and forage for nuts, berries and wild vegetables. My father always told me that the forest would provide for us if anything happened to the stores of food in the village. He wasn't wrong.

     When I wasn't tending the goats, or foraging, I was training. I trained at the river, I trained in the hidden room, I trained on the mountain top, I even trained further in the caves. It was dark, but that made me improve my ability in the Swordsman's Euphoria. I would douse the flame of my torch, and then enter the Euphoria. When I was there, I would reach out to the stone and gather the aether to enhance my vision. Everything would look like it was through a purple haze, but I could see everything clearly. The floor was scattered with large stone and boulders. I would use them as obstacles to run and jump on during the movements. One of the last lessons my father taught me, was that the movements could be done anywhere. You only had to master your environment. When I realized that I could do the movements in an unlit cave, I began training in all kinds of locations. The most challenging was the river itself. I would wade in, up to my waist. The water was frigid from the mountain runoff. I would reach out for the aether to warm my bones, and nothing could stop me. Not even when fall turned to winter. The aether protected me from any harm of the cold. I would train in the river until it iced over, and then I would train on top of it.

     By mid winter I had grown out of my clothes. My father had old scraps of cloth and armor left in the forge and the hidden room. I knew nothing about needlework, but I tried my best. My britches were put together from two old sacks, I made them larger than I needed and pinched them with an old strap of leather. My tunic was from a few scraps of old clothing that I was able to find unburnt in the village. The most difficult thing was the shoes. I looked everywhere in hopes that I would find some, but I had no luck. I found a few old pairs of armored boots in the hidden room. I took the smaller pair and stuffed them with shreds of cloth to make them fit. It was a new experience training not only in shoes that were too large, but too heavy.

     The winter was tough, but I would cut down a tree each morning after I trained at the river, and light the forge. It was warmer than a small fireplace, and the heat would travel through the cave system, so that when I trained inside, it was comfortable.

     The first signs of springs arrival, came in the form of a cardinal that landed on the fencing for the goats. It was nearing the time I was supposed to go to the Kingdom and join the Knights Academy, but I had no way of getting there. The horses were gone, and it would take several weeks to travel there by foot. Also I wasn't sure of the path to get there without my father guiding the way. No travelers came to the village that I could ask. Even in the best of times, our village didn't attract much attention. We would maybe get a visitor once a season, but none had came, which made me believe that the Raiders had struck other villages on the way to ours. If I left I would have to free the goats and let them fend for themselves. I couldn't do it. They were the only living thing left of the village. I stayed.

     The seasons turned into years. I continued to train, and forage, and put together makeshift clothing. I had grown enough to be able to fit into the armored boots, and some britches that my father had in an old chest in the back of the hidden room. I had gotten better at needlework, and my tunic now resembled a tunic, but still made from scraps of old clothing. In the hidden room was an old chain male shirt that was still too large for me, but I wore it when I trained. It was bulky and slowed me down at first, but after a few weeks, I was able to move freely in it. The boots were also easier to move in, since I could finally fit them.

     One day when I was training in the hidden room, The excited bleating of the goats traveled through the cave. I ran out with sword in hand to see two Raiders trying to herd them out of the pen. They hadn't seen me yet, so I ran as swiftly as I could and pounced on the first one that was at the gate of the pen. With a single thrust of my sword, I ended his life. I let him fall of my sword, as his body went limp his compatriot turned and looked at me with anger. He had made his way into the pen to round up the goats. I sprung over the fence in a single leap without even touching it. We ran at each other, and at the last second I dropped to my knees and slid. As I did I slashed my sword across his midsection. That was all it took. I had opened him on the side from belly button to spine. He fell in screams of pain. I calmly stood up, and walked back to him.

     "Were are your other men?"

     "You will pay for our deaths when they arrive. You swung your blade for the last time."

     "I doubt that. I still have one more swing within me."

     With that, I opened his throat. I didn't know how much time I had, so I quickly opened the pen and lead the goats up the mountain. At least if they were there, they would have a chance to escape regardless of what happened to me. I ran back down the mountain. It was still clear, but for how long. I took the bodies of them men, and propped them up agains the fence facing the old trail that entered into the village.

     I already had the boots and the chain male shirt on since I was training when the arrived, but I would need more armor if I was going to take on twenty men. I assumed twenty since it was near that number when the raided the village years ago. I found some old leather gloves, and my gauntlets. The gloves were too big, and my gauntlets were too small. I added some leather cord to what was on my gauntlets to allow them to fit, but with a large gap on the underside. The gloves would just have to work. There was other armor in the room, but it was all too large, including the metal glove that Galdren had given me so long ago.

     I went to the mouth of the cave that led into the forge and waited. It took several hours before they showed up, but in that time, I formed a plan. There were only 6 men that rode on horseback down the old trail. The sped up when they saw the two men propped up on the goat pen. I could see the sense of panic in them as they dismounted their steeds and looked around frantically for the danger that had killed their friends.

     I stealthily walked back into the forge and pulled a lit torch from the wall, and doused the others. I went back to the mouth of the cave, and called to the men.

     "Leave here or suffer the same fate as those two pathetic slabs of meat."

     They all called out simultaneously, "There!" Then the ran towards the cave. My plan wasn't for them to run off scared, although that would have been welcome. I had never fought anyone to the death until that morning. I wanted every Raider dead, but when it came down to it, it didn't make me feel any better when they fell to my blade. My plan was to lure them into the cave, and to the dark cavern in the back. I  walked to the back of the forge with the with the torch in hand and waited for the first one to poke his head around the opening of the cave. I didn't have to wait long, they were there within seconds. It seemed that caution wasn't anything they were interested in. One didn't poke his head around the opening, three of them came barreling in, with the other three close behind.

     "Over here."

      The stayed in stride as they found my voice and followed. I ran past the hidden room and to the next corner. At this point, I no longer had to call for them, they could simply follow the light. It was the only one in the cave, and none of them had stopped long enough to light their own torch. I led them through the twisting cave system, stopping only long enough so that they wouldn't lose track of me. I entered the large cavern, and stood to the back of it in front of one of the large boulders that stood head height to me. They all sprinted into the room and spread out in front of me.

     "You're dead boy."

     "Is that so? How well can you see in the dark?"

     "Wha....."

     As the word was coming out of the leaders mouth, I doused the torch. I entered the Swordsman's Euphoria, and reached to the stone to gather the aether. As the room went dark, my vision went to purple and I sprung upwards to the top of the boulder. I watched as the men stood stark still for the first few seconds, as they tried to regain their sight. The panic set in, when their sight didn't return as fast as they wanted it to. They began running around and knocking into one another. The leader had remained still, and called for his.

     "Stop running around and stand still, but keep at the ready. Draw your swords, and gather at my voice."

      I saw the men do as they were told, when they were gathered around their leader he grabbed the nearest man to him on the shoulder. I watched the other men do the same, and they began walking backwards towards the entrance to the cavern. I leapt from the boulder and sprinted behind them. I slashed with my sword and sliced along the calf of the leaders leg. He crumpled to the floor, and the men began to panic again, but this time, they stayed in place.

     "Circle around me, and keep your swords pointed out. He will have to take a blade to get to us again. Don't make a sound and listen for him. He will give himself away."

     He thought I was attacking by their sound. I was still standing directly behind them and in front of the cavern entrance. I took off the bulky boots, so that I could sneak more quietly. I slowly made my way around to the right side, and chose my first victim. I charged in and slid low stabbing my blade upwards and into his stomach. I slide in as far as I could reach. I saw the tip reemerge from his upper shoulder. He opened his mouth to scream, but he was already dead. I quickly pulled the blade out before he could fall, and retreated back to my boots.

     The panic set in again, and the men started breaking their rank. The one standing closest to the entryway, turned and ran towards me. I simply raised my sword, and slide it through his throat. Once again, he dropped silently. There were three more men left, including the wounded leader. I was stunned when I watched one of them run in a panic, straight into the wall, head first. He had brained himself.

     "Come to my voice and help me up."

     The final two men did as the leader ordered. Since they couldn't see, they didn't know which was to go, so they picked him up facing different directions. They both ran and went in a circle sending them all sprawling to the floor. I quickly jumped on the back of the one nearest me, and slide my sword under his head and slid it along his throat. He let out a "Hrmmph." when I landed on his back, but was silent after that. That left one more able bodied man.

     "It's down to just two of you now. I'll let you live if you tell me what I want to know."

     "You won't leave this cave boy. I will walk out on one leg, using the bones from your spine to prop me up."

     "Very interesting proposal, but I think I'll keep my spine where it is. It does seem like you man there, has a spine that has turned to jelly."

     The lone remaining man without wound was crawling away from my voice trying to shelter under or behind anything he could.

     "You there. My father showed compassion once, and let one of your kind go. That was just before the rest of your men killed him and burned this village to the ground. If you tell me what I want to know, I will show that same compassion and let you walk out of here with every breath left to take. All you have to do, is throw down your sword, and answer my questions."

     "Men of the Mudwood, don't throw their weapons down."

     As the leader was saying the last word a loud clang could be heard from the man throwing his sword away.

     "What are you doing you coward. I will kill you myself."

     "Where are the rest of your men?"

     "There are no other men. We are a small scout force sent to see if any of the villages we have taken or burned down have been repopulated."

     "What was your mission?"

     "If we found population regrowth we were to report back to our legion. Once we did that, the legion would sent out a patrol of appropriate size to destroy the new settlements."

     "Where is your legion?"

     "They remain across the border in the safe zones."

     "Why are they staying there?"

     "When we began the raids years ago, we made our way to 10 miles from the Kingdom, but we were pushed back by the Targen Knights. We have been staying in the safe zones replenishing our forces and preparing for an all out assault."

     "If you are going to have an all out assault, why send in scouts to clear people out, why not just run them over with your numbers."

     "The new general..."

     "Shut your mouth traitor. If I get over there I will kill you on the spot."

     "Wait a moment, I need to take care of something."

     I walked over to the prone leader. I bent down and picked up a small pebble from the ground and tossed it over his shoulder. The sound caused him to jump and then lunge for the sound. When he was fully stretched out, I sliced across the back of the knee of his unwounded leg.

     "ARGHHH!"

     "Now you silence yourself and stay put. He won't be going anywhere near you know. Continue with what you were saying."

     I watched the cowardly yet informative man gulp, and reswallow his heart.

     "The new general wants a clear path to the Kingdom. He said stragglers or small outcrops of villagers will slow the legion down, and waste resources."

     "When is he supposed to advance his legion."

     "I don't know. We were supposed to report back our findings and then wait for new orders."

     "Very well. I'm going to walk over to you now. Don't be frightened, and don't do anything foolish. I'm going to lead you out of here. I will stay to your back with the point of my blade at the base of your skull. If you try anything, my blade will slide through the back of your neck and out the front of your throat. Do you understand me?"

     "Yes, I will do nothing."

     He was true to his word. He stood up, and moved forward as I ordered him to do, and then I got behind him and marched him with voice commands on which way to turn. All the while, his leader screamed and described how he was going to kill the traitor. When we got to the forge, I stopped and told him to continue on.

     "You or anyone who comes here, will be killed, so do not return. Tell you general that there were no settlements, and the rest of the men you were with, ran off and deserted the army."

     "Yes, and thank you for not killing me."

     "Thank my father. I was only doing what he would do. If it were up to me, I would kill you and every other Raider and that is just what I'll do if you return."

     The man ran off as fast as he could. I watched as he mounted his horse and tore off in a gallop. I walked back to the cavern, with a torch. I stopped before entering the cavern, and reached the torch in front of me into the doorway. A knife went whistling past, and went rang out as it hit the wall beyond.

     "Are you done?"

     "Come in here and face me, so I can put my blade through you."

     I walked into the cavern. The man had drug himself to the far wall, near the boulder I had stood under earlier. His sword was at the ready. Two large smears of blood trailed from his legs. He was already beginning to go pale, and wouldn't last much longer.

      "I'm feeling very compassionate today. I will show you the same compassion I showed your man."

     "Your going to let me leave?" The bravado had finally left his voice.

     "Oh no, nothing like that. I'm going to offer you a quick death."

     "I will take your life with my own blade before you can end mine." The bravado had returned. "I am a Raider of the Mudwood. We do not kneel and die, we stand up and fight."

     "I don't think you will stand before you die. As a matter of fact, you are already dead. All that remains is to see exactly how you die, quickly or slowly."

    He raised his sword and beaconed me to come closer to him.

     "I'm assuming you are attempting to stand and fight. I'll leave you to that then."

     I turned and walked away, leaving him in darkness. He screamed and yelled for a couple of hours , before he finally went quiet. I let him lay there for a day. I needed to relocate the goats to the mountain so that they would no longer attract attention. I took the pen down, and used parts of it to make a gate on the narrow pass going up the mountain. The next day. I burned the bodies of all the men that died. I took their horses and led them up the mountain pass as well. I now had a way to leave the village.

   

Self Reflection

     It's been a very strange day. A day full of self reflection. There has always been one persistent fact in my life and that is, whomever is in it right now, will more than likely not be in it in a few years. There are exceptions, but they are few. I believe they are still around because there is a great distance between us, whether it be actual distance or some odd emotional one. This is something that I've learn to accept over the years, but lately, it is slowly creeping into those areas of my mind that feen my doubt.

     This week started what I like to call a perfect storm type of situation. I had to call someone out on there BS, and it's just another one of those people leaving my life. This one I'm not concerned about, this is one of those time, that I'm greatly improved by them being gone, but it still brought forward the fact that this is a normal occurrence in my life, and I know that this isn't normal for everyone.

     I don't think my friendships with people have ever been normal. This goes all the way back to when I was a kid. It was only on very rare occasions that I could convince someone to do something that I wanted to do. That hasn't changed. I can't just call someone up and say, "Hey, let's go have dinner.". If I do, I always get an answer similar to, "I can't, I already have plans.". That works for the spur of the moment type of requests, but then there are the ones that I would try to plan. Then the response is normally, "I can't, I already have plans.". Early on, I would try to offer up a different day or ask them when would be good for them, but it would always end the same, and their plans were always too busy for my plans.

      That brings me to where I am today. I rarely if ever try to ask anyone to do anything, and when I do, I'm usually let down. Like earlier this week. I reached out to someone and asked them to give my number to another mutual friend so that they could get in touch with me about the guest reviewer spot for the PR. I never heard from either person, which means that the first person, didn't bother to do what I asked. I will have to go see the person that I wanted to have my number tomorrow, so that I can try to arrange the whole thing. I was trying to avoid this, so that I could do nothing but rest, so that I could wake up early on Saturday to get that video done. I'm still going to do the video, but I'm sure that I'm going to be tired now. The weather forecast is reading too perfect for me not to do it. I will get through it and have a video for you on Sunday.

     People always talk about that friend that they grew up with. That one that they see from time to time and relive old times. I don't have that friend. All the people I grew up with lost touch a long time ago, and I doubt I will ever see any of them again. This doesn't mean that I have some close friends. I do have a few, that when I see them, we pick up where we left off from, but once again, I believe that is because of the vast distance between us. We've had some pretty strong experiences between us, and things like that don't slip away. I'm grateful and thankful for them, but I know that I can't simply call them up and ask if they want to do anything. It just wouldn't happen. They would become like all those other people, and I would end up disappointed in them, so I don't ask them for anything.

     Back to that prefect storm thing again. The other part that got me thinking about all of this, was the online dating thing. I still have yet to get even the smallest of responses from messages that I've sent out. Not even a thank you but no thank you. I'm really not sure at all on how to take that. Is it me, is it what I have written that represents me, is it the pictures of me, did I say something insanely stupid in what I sent them. I doubt it is the latter. I always try and write something based on what they have written in their profile. I ask question to learn more about them. I don't just say "Hey, what's up?". They put the time and thought into what they wanted to say, so I read it, and base my message on that, so that brings it down to all the other things. That's when I start wondering, what exactly is it about me that repels people so.

     All of this lack of everything spirals into my head, and spins me out of control. I have good friends, but not close friends. I have passions but no one to share them with. When I experience something new, it is almost always alone. This is the life of a hermit, but usually the hermit is the person that wants to live that way. Am I just self destructing all these relationships, because in reality I want to live like a hermit? I'm really starting to wonder.

     I debated for several days on whether or not I should write this but then I remembered why I started doing this in the first place, and that was truth in writing. I have always said that I would be completely honest with this, and this is it. In the end, I had no choice but to write this, this is what this is all about.

     Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. As I said, this is something that I've lived with my entire life. From when I was that little 8 year old kid on his birthday that no one showed up to, because they had other plans, to now, when I'm a grown man that sees no future of a relationship that has any lasting substance. If the gods exist then this is their way of telling me from a very early age, that this is how it's supposed to be. I got Morty and I got Saki, what else do I need? Peace in and goodnight.

The Surprise Is On It's Way.

     I nearly forgot that it was Tuesday.  I was heading to bed when it hit me, I got to write. Here I am, with not a whole lot to say tonight. I can say that the next review by the PR is going to be done next Wednesday. That is completely on me this time. I tried to get a hold of our guest reviewer through another person, and that person let me down. My partner went by and saw them today, to let them know that we are on for next week though. I will talk to them Friday and settle times and what nots. I am putting my back against the wall on this. I will have two days to get everything done, with only limited time to do it. Thursday is my guitar lesson, so that makes that day even shorter. I need to get everything done before the daily email would send out, which is 5 PM. I think I can do it, but it's going to be close. If I'm lucky, I won't have to work that Friday, and I will have all the time that I need, but we all know that isn't going to happen.

     I got my shipping confirmation yesterday for that secret little thing that I ordered. I can tell you two things; 1. it's not that little, and 2. it's coming from Great Britain. I believe that tells you absolutely nothing about what it is. I had an idea for an unveil video, but I can't seem to get one aspect to work within it, so I may have to scrap that idea, and just do a photo reveal on here Sunday night. I say Sunday night, because it is supposed to arrive some time Friday.

     Based on the weather app on my phone. Saturday has a good chance of having good weather so that I can do that video that I want to do. I want to do it early in the morning, I'm just hoping that I'm not crazy tired like I have been. I have been exhausted come Friday night lately, and then I have trouble waking up early on Saturday morning. The earliest I can seem to wake up is 8:30, and that won't cut it for the video I want to do. I have to be on location shortly after the sun comes up. That is the lighting I want for the shoot. It's not only early, but I have only so much time of that quality low lighting that I want. This is going to be a one take video. I have to get everything right, any mistakes and I lose the light that I want for it. I can see the whole thing in my head, but like I titled Sunday nights post, best laid plans and all.

     I love making plans. Plans are good, but here is the thing about plans. You make a plan, you commit to the plan, you implement the plan, then half way through the plan, you toss it all out, because you realize the plan is going all to hell. I'm almost sure that that is how this is all going to go. That could mean video magic, but it could also be the most frustrating thing ever. I'll let you know about that on Sunday as well.

     I have nothing else to talk about, so it's time for Favorite Song of the Week. This is an oldie but a great one, yeah I'm not feeling the rhyming scheme thing tonight, so that's what you get. This is a band that I fell in love with as a kid. This was back in the day when 8 tracks were a thing. I had three 8 track tapes. Billie Joel's Glass Houses, Neil Diamond's The Jazz Singer, and this final one, by a duo that comes from Philadelphia. You thought I was going to tell you who it was right away didn't you? I have to lead you on a bit. They got their start in the early 70's but it'a arguable that they didn't really take off until the 80's. There style changed a bit, but their voices never have. They can still sing just as well today, and they are out on tour right now, by the way, as they did way back in the day. The lead singer attributes that to the fact that his mother was a vocal coach and taught them both how to sing properly when they were kids. Their sound in the 70's was full of soul, and the 80's was more pop and dance. Any thing they played was great though. They broke up in the mid 90's I believe but it was just so they could pursue their own interests, The lead singer later had a hit internet show in the early to mid 00's that I do believe is what brought them back together to perform again. I don't think they are writing any new music, but their catalog is full of hits. The band is non other than Hall and Oates. Oh yeah the lads that kept that Philly sound alive. I thought about going all the way back and picking a song like Sara Smile, or Rich Girl, but I decided to pick the title track off that old 8 track tape that I had. Here is Hall and Oates with "Private Eyes".



     I still love that song. If you are a fan of SNL, you may recognize the guitar player in the back. That is Tom "T-bone" Wolk, he was the band leader for several years on the show, and he was often featured in Daryl Halls, internet show, Live From Daryl's House. If you haven't seen that, do yourself a favor and look it up. I think their are still episodes available online. One of the music channels bought the rights to air it on TV, but I don't think they got all of them. Daryl would bring different musicians to his house in upstate New York and they would play a ton of that artist songs. It was a fantastic show. I'm not sure if he still does it now. John Oates has been living in Nashville. While he has been there he hasn't been idle. He has been writing songs for other people and recently did a solo album that was really good. If you want to see them live, they are out on tour with another favorite band of mine, Train. I think they just started the tour or they are about to start, so get out there and get some tickets if they are coming anywhere near you.

     The clock is ticking later and later, so I need to get to sleep. I will see you on Thursday since we are back to our regularly schedule programing there. Peace in and goodnight.

Best Laid Plans And All

     The weather had not cooperated with me this weekend. It's been either too windy or rainy to do the video that I wanted to do, so, I have to put it on hold until I can do it. Here is the biggest problem I have, I want to do it in either early morning light or early evening light. I have a reason for that, and I'll reveal it when I finally have the video finished and posted. Having that limit gap of time leaves me with only a small window of opportunity of when I can do it. I'll be patient though, because I want this to be the best video that I've done. It will come, it's just going to take some more time.

     My partner with the PR finally did what he was supposed to, and the proof shows int he numbers of how the PR is doing with the latest review. It is by far our highest viewed blog post, but the video is a little behind. I expect that though. It is very hard to get someone to watch a video that is even 3 minutes long, so an 8 minute video is nearly impossible, that being said, I'm still going to ask you to watch it here, because you know I'm going to post it.



     I think I upped the energy just a little too much for this one, but if you remember I was highly frustrated with everything that went wrong before that moment. I'll dial it down a bit for the next one.

     Speaking of the next one, we have a potential guest reviewer lined up. We just have to see if we can get everyone on the same page as far as scheduling is concerned. If it works out, we will have a pizza insider for this one. As you know, I have a good relationship with the people at my favorite former watering hole, now current pizza and soda only hole. The owner wants to go along with us for the next one, which my partner and I are all for. It should be fun if we can get it all together. It is looking like though, I will be put up against the wall on this one. The guest reviewer only has one day a week that they are off, so I doubt I can put it all together this week, which means I will have limited time during the week that we will be posting, to get everything done. What would the PR be if something didn't go wrong?

     I have had a challenging time this weekend, trying to spend money. I went to order something yesterday and my card was declined because it needed verification. I called, they said they would call me back, they never did, but then I checked my email and there was a fraud alert notification. It was the order I was trying to buy, so I took care of that and was finally able to order the item. I would love to share what that item is, but I'm going to leave it as a surprise. I might make a video about the unboxing, or I just may post it all here with pictures, I have yet to decide.

     The other thing I tried to order was with a different card, that I use only for these types of things, and for some reason it wouldn't go through. It wasn't declined it simply could be processed. I was trying to buy a couple pair of Tommy John underwear (I'm still waiting to hear from you Tommy John. You can sponsor me and I will sell your underwear.), but I just couldn't get my card to work. I checked the account and everything is clear with plenty of money on the limit, so I don't know what is going wrong. I guess it's not meant for me to buy some new underwear this weekend.

     Oh, I forgot to mention when I posted the video. If you have a YouTube account, give us a follow and don't forget to hit that like button. With that shameless promotion out of the way. I have to mention how enjoyable and fulfilling it was to write The Patchwork Knight yesterday instead of on Thursday. That being said, I almost missed the deadline. I started writing with plenty of time, but it took me far longer, and the chapter ended up being far longer than I thought it would. I guess that is the freedom of not having to rush things in order to get to bed. It took me a little over 3 hours to write that chapter. I only had one brief interruption where I talked to a friend for a couple of minutes. I really do feel like it was the best chapter I have written thus far. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, go give it a read when you are done with this. This is the chapter that changes the direction of the entire story. I will say this though, that isn't the last plot twist that this story will have, so you can expect it, but if I do things right, you won't see it coming.

     I have clothes washing, I need to feed the Morty, and I need to feed myself, so I'm going to call this one done.  I'll see you again on Tuesday night. Until then, peace in and goodnight.

   

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 24)

     Arial had begun focusing more of her time on meditation once we found our own paths to the ether, so my father began training me much harder. We would no longer practice in one location. We would run through the forest in a makeshift war game. One day my father would be the attacker, the next I would. The attacker would leave the village and make their way through the forest before first light. When the sun broke the horizon, the defender was allowed to enter the forest. We could chose any path we wanted to the river. If you got to the river without being attacked, you would chose another path back to the village. The defender was to attempt to get to the river and back unseen and unheard. In three weeks of doing this daily, I had yet to make it both ways without being attacked, My father had only been attacked twice. Both times I lost the fight. I should mention that I had never won any of the fights were I was defending either.

     My father's skill was beyond anything I could dream of, even when I entered the aether to fight him. I would see the golden glow that surrounds him, flare and he would move even faster. He didn't need to enter the ether, he was the ether.

     "How is it, that you don't enter the aether, but you still harness it's power?"

     "It's years of practice. I honed my skill when I was your age, and I kept honing, even when I stopped fighting. I never stopped practicing. That is what the hidden room in the forge is for."

     "You practice in there? Why do you make me practice here, in the woods?"

     "I didn't always have the luxury of a solid floor with a roof to protect me from the elements. I also had to practice on uneven ground, and in climates that were far more intense than what you find on this mountain. My teachers were more forceful as well. If we had the slightest misstep, we would be punished by being whipped until we bled."

     "Who were your teachers?"

     "That isn't important, what is important is that you become even better than me. I want to make sure that you are safer in any instance than I ever was. One day, that will be the only way I can protect you."

     "What do you mean?"

     "I'm getting older Pitre. I won't always be around. I also fear that with more Raiders making their way into the Realm, that I won't be able to stay away from battle again. I don't want to fight and kill again, but if it becomes like it once was, I will have no choice but to do so."

     "How was it that we went to war with the Mudwood?"

     "The Raiders of the Mudwood, only believed in conquering. They had an incessant greed for anything that wasn't theirs. The world is much bigger than what you know as the Realm, and you haven't even seen much of that. The Raiders had to be stopped if this tiny chunk of the world was to remain in peace."

     "How big is the world?"

     "Hmmm, how can I put it. If you think of the forge as the Realm, then everything else all the way to the Kingdom, would be the world."

     "Even the village? The world is that big?"

     "I believe that it is even bigger. I only saw a small piece of it when we fought in the Blind War."

     "I want to see the rest of the world papa."

     "That, I doubt will never be. The Raiders control most of the world that is out there. I'm sure there are other pockets such as the Realm, but it isn't safe for anyone not from the Mudwood. Maybe something will change, maybe a leader from the Mudwood will see the error in their ways, and want peace throughout the land. Then, maybe you can see the world."

     "Can you show me the border of the Realm some day?"

     "Someday? Maybe, but it won't be anytime soon. If the Raiders are trying to find weak spots in the border, that means they are looking at a way to invade again. The fools never learn from their past."

     "When I become a Knight, will protect you and we will go to the border together." Even as I said that, I thought about how skilled and powerful my father was. I would never be the protector, no matter how old he became.

     "I look forward to that day......"

     My father stopped in mid sentence, and began looking around.

     "Wha...."

     My father raised his hand for me to quiet myself. I started looking around as well. The only thing I could hear was the sound of the river running over it's rocky bed in the distance. Then I heard a limb crack on the ground. I was guessing that it was another wolf so I began drawing my sword. My father stayed my hand, and then began pulling my sword out very slowly so it would not make a sound. I hadn't realized it but my father had already drawn his sword.

     "Enter the aether boy." My father whispered in my ear. "This is something much different than what would normally wander these woods."

     My father stepped in front of me, as the first man entered the small clearing where we were talking. The man put his fingers to his lips and a loud whistle came out. I could hear a thunder of footsteps and cracking branches as five more men entered the clearing. Their clothes looked similar to the rogue that my father killed on the road to the Kingdom. They were Raiders. This was a much smaller group that what Sir Wallace said was coming over the border.

     "Where are the rest of your men?"

     "What would make you think that there are more men?"

     "I know Raiders, and if there are two of them, there are twenty of them."

     "Sorry mate it's just us, and you really shouldn't worry, you won't be alive much longer to worry about other men anyway."

     With that, the man that was speaking signaled the other men to surround us. They slowly encircled us, I could see my father looking from side to side, sizing up each man. His aura flared, like it would just before he would pounce to strike me, but this time, it was different, it was even bigger. With in the time it would take one to blink an eye, my father threw his sword at the arrogant man that had spoken to him. It went directly at his through and buried itself to the hilt there. He had a look of shock as he reached up and grabbed the handle on the sword to pull it out just before he fell over dead. The other men also had shocked looks on their faces, and began looking from one to another wondering what to do. That was just long enough for my father to grab me by the hand and throw me in the open space where the verbose man once stood. As he let go of my hand he grabbed the sword from my hand.

     "Retrieve my blade boy."

     I landed just beyond the fallen man's body. I sunk down to roll him on his side so that I could pull my father's sword from his neck. His eyes still showed the horror of what had happened, but his face was blank and pale. I had to pry his hands from the handle, they had locked in a death grip. I was only slightly aware of what was going on around me. I finally freed the sword from it's temporary home, and the warm blood dripped over the hilt onto my hands. I looked up to see that two more men were on the ground, unmoving, and the final three were standing defensively in front of my father, who stood in front of where I was. I ran over to join him, and the scrum began. My father's aura flared again, and he bolted toward the two men on the left side. The remaining man, seeing his opportunity to strike, ran for me.

     He came at me with a overhand strike. It was heavy and laborious. I saw the strike before he even took it. I moved to the side, and slapped his sword further down. His momentum caused him to fall forward and stab the sword into the ground. I spun around and as he was attempting to right himself, I slashed across his right arm. He screamed in pain, and forgetting the sword tried to swing his fist at me. I raised my sword to meet his punch. His hand flew past my head as his wrist connected with my blade. I lunged my shoulder into him knocking him off balance sending him to the forest floor. I turned to see where my father was, and he already had one man on the ground, and the other nervously dancing in front of him. I had the distinct feeling that I needed to duck. I did, and it was just in time. The man I had knocked to the ground was on his feet and had freed his sword. The strike went directly over my head. It was a strike that was ever more poor than the earlier one. The lost of his hand was definitely hampering him. I stepped toward him with my closest foods till crouched down, I spun my sword to aim the point directly behind me, and I stood up quickly, plunging the sword into the man's stomach. He let out a guttural cough and slumped over on top of me. I shifted my weight and he fall to the ground.

     I ran to my father's side. The man that was on the ground was already dead, and the dancing man remained.

     "Where are your other men? My father spoke with and angry grind to his voice.

     "They, they, they are scouting, the, the, the forest. Wa wa wa we were told d d, by advanced sc sc sco scouts, that th th the there was a vil vil vill village in the area."

     "How many more are there?

     "Min mi minus the six of u u us, there are tw twe twen twe twenty four m m m m more."

     "Are they in scout groups like yours?"

     "Yes, b b b bu bu but, w w w w we are sup sup supposed to all c c co co c c c com come together, w w w wh wh when we we we hear a wh wh whi whis whistle."

      "So they will all be coming here?"

     The man simply nodded his head instead of trying to speak again.

     "Will they all be coming from the same direction as you?"

     The man shook his head and pointed in two different directions, both of which were away from the village, so they wouldn't have found it yet.

     "It's your lucky day lad. If you put your sword down, and run in that direction, I will let you live."

     My father pointed in the direction of the river. The man seeing his chance to live, dropped his sword and ran following and invisible line that would lead him to the river and then salvation. My father turned to me and handed me my sword and took his own in return.

     "That blade is far better than I imagined it would be. I knew I had crafted a fine blade, but the balance and feel is truly remarkable in a fight."

     "Your sword did it's job well too."

     "I knew it would. That sword saw me through the Blind War. I can't here the other men coming yet, so that means we have time. I want you to run to the village and warn everyone, and then I want you to run directly to the forge and the hidden room. You are to stay there, until I come for you. Do you understand?"

     "I want to stay and help you. If things go they way they should, there will be no need for you to help. Now do as I say."

     I reluctantly ran off, but when I thought I was far enough from my father's sight, I hid behind a tree. I heard the men approach. They came as the one Raider had said they would. Fourteen from the right, and ten more from the left. I could barely see my father through the gaps of the trees. He just stood there, in that small clearing. the men stopped in a semi circle around him. I couldn't make out what was being said, but one man was clearly talking to my father. I could no longer see him with all the men standing around him, but I could tell that he wasn't leading them off as he said he would. I watched as all the men converged on him at once. I began running towards him.

     "RUN BOY!"

     Those were my father's last words. He fought as I ran towards him, disobeying his order. He beheaded three men in one swipe of his sword, but it came at a cost. Two men on either side of him thrust their swords into his sides. His aura flared even brighter than before, and with a single move that whipped the sword in a figure eight motion around his body, he took their arms. The swords remained in his sides. He reached with his left hand to his right side, and pulled one of the swords out. He began wielding both of them, in figure eight patterns. This was part of the thirteenth moment. He knocked swords from multiple men away from striking him. He spun as he flung the swords around him. He came up with one of the swords and slashed one man's throat. Then he brought the other sword up from below his waste and stuck another man from his belt to his opposing shoulder, both men fell to the ground. Three men lunged at my father from behind and stabbed their swords through his gut. My father bucked forward with his head flung back.

     "RUN BOY!"

     With his remains strength she spun on the three men and took their heads as he did the first two. The remaining men pounced on my father. I watched him go the the ground fighting the entire time. I turned and ran towards the village. Seven men were down, that left fourteen. If I warned the village in time, we could fight them off and kill the rest of them. I ran as fast as I could. When I broke the tree line I couldn't understand what I was seeing. The village was on fire. People were running in chaos, and men were striking down defenseless people. The village was lost. There were other men that the cowardly Raider didn't tell us about. I had no other choice but to run to the forge. I stayed to the trees for as long as I could. When I finally broke the cover that I had, I made a ad dash for the forge. I heard a yell, "Over there!" but I didn't stop, I ran all the way to the forge and then into the hidden room.

     I heard footsteps enter the forge, and then crashes as tables and scraps of metal were overturned and strewn about.

     "I saw him come in here."

     "Are you sure you saw anything at all? I didn't see a think."

     "He's in here."

     There were more sounds of destruction, but I remained in the hidden room. I heard the footsteps approach closer to the door way. They stopped and I could hear scuffling outside. They moved past and deeper into the cave system where the forge was. After a few minutes I heard the footsteps return.

     "You are out of your mind if you think I'm going further into that bloody cave. If it was one boy, then he will die on his own. Now come on, we have a village to pillage."

     I heard the footsteps walk away. I waited in the hidden room for what must have been hours. I finally decided to risk taking a look. I exited the hidden room and saw the work area of the forge was destroyed. Every table was turned over, the anvil was on the floor and horseshoes and hoes blades were flung about carelessly. I poked my head from the mouth of the cave, and saw that the village was no longer there. It was there, but no like I had known it. Every hut and cabin were smoldering dark masses. Not a single person was present. I cautiously walked to the village and saw bodies of people that I once knew. It was then that I began to worry. I ran to where Arial's cabin was. Only the frame of the door still stood. Her father's body was underneath it. I looked under the wreckage for an hour for Arial, but I found nothing. Everyone was dead or gone. I was alone.

     I ran back into the forest, back to the place where I last saw my father. He was there, but it was only the vessel of his body that was left behind. He had stab wounds in every part of his body. His eyes were open and lifeless I reached down and with tears in my eyes. I closed them. I picked my father up and carried him back to the forge. His blood ran down my front and back and grew sticky as it met with the air. I grew tired as I took the final steps into the forge. I summoned what was left of my strength to take his body into the hidden room. I placed it on the table that stood at the far wall. Then I began using an old pick to break through the hard rock of the floor. I would lay my father to rest in this spot, where no one would ever get to him.

     Once the body was buried and I was drained of tears, it was time to train. I would become better than my father as he wanted, and I would destroy the Raiders of the Mudwood, once and for all.

I'm Moving The Patchwork Knight

     Yes, it's true. I'm moving The Patchwork Knight. Thursday Knights will go back to normal, and there will now be Saturday Knights. Since I've been working most Fridays, it's become difficult for me to put my full effort into each chapter. I could keep going, and put out what I believe is less than my best, or I can change the night and make it a full 100%. I will still write on Thursdays, but it will go back to what it originally was. This Saturday will be the first of the now Saturday Knights, so look forward to this next chapter. The most important reason that I'm doing it now, is the next chapter is one of those all important pivotal chapters. I need to have my full attention and focus on this one. That is all I can say at this time, you will just have to wait until Saturday to see what it's all about. I'm planning on having it up earlier in the day, so It should be posted by 7 PM New York time.

     I have another announcement, not as important, but still an announcement. I know I said on Tuesday that I had a certain video idea, and I'm still going to do that, but another idea popped into my head yesterday, and I have to try and do it. I will be filming for it on Saturday, and If things go right, I should have that up later in the day. I won't let it interfere with The Patchwork Knight though. If it looks like it will cut into that time, I will back off of that and post it on Sunday morning. Either way, you will see it here on Sunday night. I can't give you any information about this video expect that, if I pull this off, I have no idea how I will top it. It seems like everything could be a let down after this. That doesn't mean that I'll stop making videos, it just means that I may hit my peak with this one.

     Speaking of videos, I will be making the PR public first thing in the morning tomorrow. If you are subscribed to the blog, you should get the email in the early evening, but it will be up when the sunrises tomorrow. I will publish the video first, and then the blog, that way it won't interfere with the embedded link on the blog. I'm still waiting to here when we are going to do the next tasting. Not even and inkling of a hint of when we are going to do it yet. I'm sure at this point that it is going to be some last minute thing that catches me off guard and I don't have the camera batteries charged and this becomes a complete train wreck. I'll keep you up to date.

     I do plan to go to one of the upcoming restaurants tomorrow for dinner, so that I can do a little research. I want to get as much information and background about this places as I can. This is for two reasons, 1. I want this to be a real good one, and 2. I want to show my partner what can happen when you fully prep for something. Yes, this is supposed to be what he does for each place, but I'm going to give a little lesson in how it's done. I may go a little over the top, but if I can get him to do half as much, we will be better off.

     I forgot to mention this to you. Morty the canine food disposal unit, stopped eating for a couple of days. Well not completely, but he would only eat one meal a day, and he wouldn't eat it with his same vigor. I was starting to get worried. He wasn't showing any signs of discomfort, and when he went outside he wold run around like nothing was wrong, but he wouldn't eat. Even now, he isn't as enthusiastic as he was. He is back to his normal two meals a day, but in the morning he waits until I'm about to leave for work. the evening meal is a little more to what is normal. I'm not sure, but I think it could be that he missed The Truff, and that is why he wasn't eating, but I don't know for sure. I checked to see if there was any tenderness in his belly, but there was none, so that loss of The Truff is the only thing I can think that it was. I guess they were closer than I thought they were. They barely interacted. They didn't avoid each other, they just simply did their own thing, so it is a bit of a surprise that it could be that. I've been keeping a close eye on him to watch for anything out of the norm other than that, but so far nothing has popped up. I'll keep you up to date on that as well.

     As I said earlier, I do have to work tomorrow, so I'm going to call it a night. I'll see you on Saturday with the next chapter of The Patchwork Knight. Until then, peace in and good night.

Hold Me Close Now Tony Danza.

     I was finally able to put the latest episode of the PR to rest yesterday. It's only at rest, and not to bed yet. Everything is done with the exception of making the video public and then publishing the blog post. That will all be done on Friday, then all I have to do is wonder when we are going to do our next review. I'm going to sit back on this one to see what gets done when. When Friday comes around, we will have two weeks to do a tasting at our next location and then put together the next video and blog. I would prefer to get it done early in that two week time frame rather than later, but like I said, I'm going to sit back and see what gets done when.

     It looks like there is the potential to have another 5 day work week, but I can't be completely sure on that. We have orders, but we could conceivably finish them all by Thursday, I will probably know more tomorrow. That all works out, because I have no real plans. I have an idea for a short video, nothing big, it is more of a question to how you would do something. I won't give it away, so that you can see the video and comment then. It's something from my past, that I'm wondering if anyone else has been in such a situation and how you handled it. That's all I'm going to say though.

     I should be getting my ethernet adaptor tomorrow, that will let me know if I have a wifi problem with my MacBook or if it is my actual wifi, either way, I should see much better upload times when it comes to posting a video, oh yeah, I may try and get some drone footage to throw in that video I was talking about above. I have an area or two that I would like to see if I can fly around. That also brings me to the fact that I should also get some more propellors in the mail tomorrow. I want to have a stock pile of them. I ordered those this month, and next month, I'll order an extra battery, so that I can get some longer flight time. I'll still have to bring it back in and land it, so that I can change out the battery, but I will be able to get more footage at one time. This will work out for that project that I'm going to begin work on.

      It's kind of a short one tonight, because I really have nothing to talk about. I guess that is the price I pay for getting everything done. I do have a Favorite Song of the Week, so I can add that to the discussion. This one is old but new. Old in that it is a cover of an Elton John song, one of my favorites by the way, and new, well I guess I already explained how it is new, when I explained how it is old. It is a cover by an artist that I have a great appreciation for. She is a lovey lass from England. I've loved everything she has ever put out, and this cover for the Revamp album which honors Elton and his song writing partner Bernie Taupin. There are several artist on in, but this one stands tall above the others. The singer is Florence Welch, but she is better known as Florence + The Machine. When you hear this song, you will know why I like her so much. I give you Florence + The Machine with their cover of Elton John's classic song, "Tiny Dancer".



     Was that fantastic or what? Give Florence a chance and look up some more of her stuff, you won't be disappointed. With that I bid you adieu. Peace in and goodnight.

   

It Was A Fun Weekend.

     I just ordered an adaptor that should help out with my wifi problem with my MacBook. It is an adaptor that will connect my ethernet cable to the MacBook, and I won't have to use wifi for it so much. That will hopefully cut down on my upload times, and also stop holding me up in posting these blogs. It's been weird that it happened whenever I upload video clips form the GoPro that it happens, but it is happening and I need to find a work around, and I think I just found it.

     With that out of the way, let's talk about some good stuff. First thing is that I made the video about Wayback Burgers yesterday. A few things came out of this. I did an Instagram Story along with it, and I felt way more comfortable in front of the camera. I can only assume it is because of my time doing the PR. It felt really good to be doing it, and it even felt better making the video.

     Before we get to the video, I want to give my review. The Cheeeesy, was pretty fantastic, and much better than I thought it would be. They use hand formed patties that are made from fresh beef. As far as it being a cheeseburger, it had all the elements of one, but it was more like the best patty melt I have ever had. If you don't know what a patty melt is, it is generally ground beef formed in a longer than usual patty, fried up, then put between two slices of rye bread, with several slices of cheese, and sometimes sautéed onions, which is then fried like a grilled cheese sandwich. They are truly one of my favorite food. That used to be my one birthday celebration. I would have a patty melt for my birthday every year. I haven't done it in years though, so this sandwich brought back some memories for me. I also got the O-fries with it, I misnamed them O-rings when I was talking about hem before. The fries are pretty common, nothing special about them, but they are good. The extra kick of the onion rings though, makes this a staple for me when I visit them again, and I will be visiting them again. The onion rings are fantastic. Fried to perfection with that little pop of grease when you bite into them. I could even see myself just getting onion rings the next time I go, but that just isn't as fun as the O-fries. I added the Jungle Crumble shake with this. It is a rich thick chocolate shake with gummy worms and crumbled oreos on top. It is exactly as you think it would be. Decadent as all get out, and a joy to have. I have pictures of all this, but I'll share those after the video. It's a short one this time, so please enjoy it.



     That was a really fun video to make, and I kept the time way down. I like the way these short videos are turning out. I have the pictures for you right here. Enjoy the foodiness of this food porn.

     Now that all that is out of the way, I guess I should mention that I did stop by and get the photo that I needed for the last place the PR reviewed. I don't think I talked about the failure of my partner to get the shot that we need for the blog post. I like to start the entire thing with a photo of either the restaurant or the sign. It's like an introduction to we are at that day. It is his only job when we are on location other than eating pizza, and his last two photos, haven't really been up to par. The Purple Rain Cafe was off center, and this most recent one was chopped. The work around on this one, was that I had to go by and get the shot myself. It worked out, since I was going there for Wayback, which was on my way home from there. I've been help up by this, so I will actually be writing the blog post tomorrow so that it will be ready for it's Friday release. That obliterated my whole sitting back and forgetting about the whole thing for a week or so. We don't have to post another review for three weeks at this point, but we do need to find time to go to the next place to get our review done. I'm hoping for doing it next week, so that I have time to get everything together.

     I should mention that the Purple Rain Cafe has closed it's doors. The loss of their pizza chef was too much for them to overcome. I don't know the story of how he left, since in the post I read about the doors closing, sounded more like he left rather than got fired. My partner told me he was fired. He really needs to work on his confirmation skills.

     On to other fun things. I finished watching season two of A Series of Unfortunate Events. It stars Neil Patrick Harris, and it is quite fantastic. I highly recommend watching this series on Netflix. It is very good, and family friendly. It is based on the Lemony Snicket books of the same name written by Daniel Handler. It appears based on something they actually say during the show, that there is only one more season, that will wrap this whole series up. I still have the Santa Clarita Diet to watch. That stars Drew Berrymore. She plays a zombie in a humorous way. Her and her husband played by Timothy Olyphant, go around and kill people Dexter style (bad people that probably deserve to die) so that she can eat. They released season two a couple of weeks ago, so I got some TV viewing in front of me.

     I think I should wrap this up while the getting is good. With the wifi trouble I'm having it makes it problematic when it comes to posting this up. I keep getting warnings that the auto save is not working, so while it is working right now. I'm going to close this out. Not before I mention that the finale of The Walking Dead is tonight, and they are pairing it with the premier of Fear the Walking Dead. I'm going to be so tired tomorrow. Peace in and goodnight.
   

The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 23)

          Sir Wallace and his men made camp at the base of the forest for a six weeks. During that time, they would trek out on scouting missions to the outlying trails that crossed the mountains, in search of Raiders. Sir Wallace also asked to train with me on the mornings when he was at the camp. My father had given me explicit instructions not to do anything more than the 5th movement when I trained with him. According to my father the Targen Knights only knew 8 of the movements. When I asked him why, he said that, "it was for the safety of the Realm."  I didn't understand that until much much later in my life, but we will get to that in good time. I did as my father told me, and only trained  to the 5th movement whenever I was with Sir Wallace.

    "You are greatly improved Pitre. You showed great potential at the tournament and nearly beat Princess Alma. I don't think she would stand a chance now though."

     "Thank you Sir Wallace. I have trained every day since my return form the Kingdom. I want to make the King proud when I return ."

     "I don't think you will have to worry about that. The King took a liking to you at the tournament. He wouldn't have given you the offer of entrance to the Academy otherwise. Besides, I do think you will be the top student the day you arrive, based on what I've seen. Has your father showed you any more than the 5th movement?"

     "No Sir, I only just learned the 5th movement a week before you arrived." My father also told me not to reveal that I had known more.

     "A week before you say? You are a quick study then. When you father showed me the 5th movement, it took me a month to master it. I imagine that by the time you return to the Kingdom, you will know all 8 of the movements."

     "My father told me that it wouldn't be fair to the other students if I knew all 8, so I am to focus on the first 5 and master them to the best of my ability." My father told me to maintain that charade as well. I am never to reveal that I know more than 5, and let the Targen Knights appear to teach me the final 3, and under no circumstances to ever reveal that I know that the actual number of movements is 13, nor that I know them as well. I was only to use the latter of the movements when I was in dire straights, and that was defined as me seeing no other way out of the situation that I was in beyond the first 8 movements. I swore to my father that I would do as he asked.

     "Your father was always the wisest of us. You will still be further along than all of the students of your year, and even the students a year ahead of you."

     "Can I ask you about my father Sir Wallace?"

     "What do you mean? I'm sure your father can give you much better answers about himself than I can."

     "I'm sure that is true, but he won't tell me much about his time during the Blind War. He only said that he was an infantry soldier until the King recognized him at the tournament."

     "I see, your father was always a very quiet man. He did his job as a Knight, but he never relished in it. As a matter of fact, he seemed to despise it. That is probably why he told you that he was only an infantry soldier."

     "Do you know why he left the Targen Knights?"

     "I only know what he told me. He said that the fighting was done, and so was he. He wanted to raise a family and live a simple life. The King wasn't happy about it. He was losing his best swordsman, but the King honored your father's wishes, because he was the reason we won the war."

     "How so?"

     "Until your father came along, we were struggling to hold a single village. We were nothing more than bumbling fools with sharp pointy pieces of metal. We were better at collecting crops then we were at fighting. The Raiders skill wasn't much better than ours was, but they had numbers. Numbers that overwhelmed us. They had 20 men for every one of ours. When your father taught us how to swing our swords, one of our men was worth 50 of theirs. It turned the tide of the war, and allowed us to keep our land. That is all that we wanted, to just live in peace in our little parcel known as the Realm."

     "The 8 movements made that much of a difference?"

     "8? Your father had only taught us 3 at that point. He stayed in the Kingdom just long enough to teach us the remaining 5 movements, and said that that was all that we would need to maintain our protection of the Realm. Then he left and came to this village, and we didn't see him again until that day underneath the arena."

     "Thank you for telling me this Sir Wallace. I need to cut my trees and head to the forge now."

     I ran off to get my trees. I wondered why my father truly stopped at 8 movements. If 8 could do that, why wouldn't he allow them to have all 13. They would have no fear of Raiders coming into the Realm. Although it appeared that they already had no fear of them.

     Sir Wallace and his band of men left after those six weeks. They said they had to check on more location on the border before they headed back to the Kingdom, but they would send out random patrols that would stop by from time to time, to be sure that there was no other encroachment by the Raiders. That was the last time I saw Sir Wallace.

The List Goes On.

     Ok, there were a few more things I wanted to talk about on Sunday night, but I figured that I put you through enough torture for one night. It's a whole new night though, and I got a list. The first and most important thing I wanted to talk about is the new ice cream find that I made. Good Humor is making these new ice cream bars for Reese's. Yes, that Reese's, and they tase incredible. No they don't taste anything like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but they do have a real nice peanut butter flavor that doesn't come off as that fake flavor you get from most peanut butter ice cream. The outside of the bar is coated with this cookie crumble that seems to be made up of chocolate and peanut flavored crumbles. I really shouldn't buy any more of them, because I want to eat an entire box in one sitting. I really think I could do it too.  There are six bars per box and they go down real easy.

     Over the weekend I came across an advertisement for two guys that are successful YouTubers. They wanted you to check out a video series that they did, that tells you how to be successful yourself. I decided I had nothing to lose, so I went ahead and signed up. I watched the first video on Saturday, and the mention right off the bat, that this may not work for everyone, but this is what brought them success. I thought for sure, that this video would lead to signing up and paying for more information, but it hasn't, yet. I say yet, because there is still a possibility that they may try to do that, but they have already given out some pretty good and reasonable information. There are 4 videos in the series and they are only going to be online for a limited time. They said they are doing that because they don't want to reward procrastinators. They have been releasing the videos over the course of a week, maybe less. The final video is tomorrow, and that is supposed to be the one that breaks your mind. The video they released today, did open my eyes to a new way to do things, and I'm going to start focusing on implementing those things in my videos, especially the PR. I'm writing the review tomorrow, and then I'm not going to think any more about that until it is time for our next review. Back to these videos though. What they are claiming that if you can do these methods correctly, you can potentially earn a six figure income from your efforts. Here's to hoping. A six figure income would be pretty nice. I could do exactly what I want to do, which is make videos, and I could also help out worthy charities, like I've said I wanted to do all along. I'm going to really make an effort to implement these techniques, and see how it plays out. Worst case scenario, nothing comes of it, and I still make videos because I enjoy it.

     Ok, now a little talk about the PR. I mentioned that I'm writing the review tomorrow, and then leaving it until I post. One good thing came out of my huge mistake with launching the video and then having to take it Private. I can write the whole review, embed the video and be completely done with it. I don't have to copy and paste from Pages or do anything like that. I just write it all at one time, and then hit publish on launch day. I'm going to get my break. I want to spend one week where I don't put any thought into it. No plan for a review, no editing videos for it, no nothing. It is going to be glorious.

      Since tomorrow will be the last day I put any thought into the PR for a week, I should post the latest video that we do have live for you. This is the one I had to put the disclaimer on, because the restaurant let their pizza chef go. I do like the way the video turned out despite the fact that it took about 9 takes to get the opening. Oh, that is nothing compared to the 19 takes we did on the restaurant that we didn't even get to go to on Saturday. Anyway, here is our latest review in video form.



     That does remind me. We are going to be looking for guest reviewers, for places that we have already been to, but haven't reviewed yet. We want to get people that haven't been to those places, to get a fresh perspective on the place. If you want to do it, get in touch with me and I will share a list of upcoming places that we may be going to. If you haven't been to them, then you could be our guest reviewer. I can promise you that you will get a free meal, and you will be featured on our YouTube channel.  Lots of fun.

     As of right now, the weather forecast looks good for me to do my Wayback Burger review/video on either Friday or Saturday. I'm not sure if I'll be working Friday or not, so I have to plan for a Saturday, but if I do have it off, I will be in there for the burger I want on Friday. I'm going to give you a sneak peak at what I'm going to have. There is one burger on the menu that looks fat kidtastic. Here is a link to the menu Wayback It's the first one on the menu. the Cheeeesy. I know that it looks ridiculous, but that is what I want. If you click on their Sides menu items, they have something called O'rings, which is what you hope for when you go to a fast food place that sells both fries and onion rings. It is a container of fries and onion rings together. I'm seriously not going to have to eat for the rest of the weekend after having both of those, and I didn't even mention the shake that I'm getting that. I'll leave that for the video, although, I may do a Insta Story that shows it. I haven't decided about that yet. Oh, one last thing, I'm not going to lie, I'm going to try to get bacon on that burger.

     You know what time it is, Favorite Song of the Week time. I found out about this artist just last week, and she is one of those artist that has been around for quite some time, and I am heartbroken that I haven't heard about her until now. She grew up in Washington state and only wanted to be a singer, so that is what she became, and with her voice, I don't know if there is anything else she could be. Her voice begs to be used, and she uses it to it's full potential. Her voice opens up and fills you with every bit of emotion that she is trying to relay through her lyrics. The song I'm going to share with you, is one that she wrote about a little boy that she knows. He is that awkward kid that is shy and gets picked on, but she is telling him to try your best to ignore all of that, because he is going to win the long game on this one. It's not that much different from her own life, except she wasn't really picked on, she was just that weird kid, that was different. This is Brandi Carlile with her song "The Joke".



     I really hope that you like that song as much as I do. She is a tremendous talent that deserves more attention. Despite being relatively unknown, she sold out three shows at the Berkley Center in New York. She has a pretty rabid fanbase, which I now consider myself one of. Peace in and goodnight.